Just For Now
by BlueMajik
Summary: Tobias goes missing after a mission...Rachel deals with her feelings. Really, it's better than I make it sound.


Just For Now

by BlueMajik

Author's Note: OK, this is my first Animorph fic, ever. I normally stick to Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfiction, and I've never posted anything at fanfiction.net before. I'm not sure if anyone is ever even going to read this. I hope so, and I hope you like it. I hope it's not too long and boring.... BTW, this is basically a Tobias/Rachel fic. It gets a little sappy near the end. But hey, how can you have a good fic with out a little bit of mush thrown in? ::smiles:: Well, here it goes. Please review! Try not to destroy me, though. I'm delicate that way. ~!~BlueMajik 7.04.00

~*~*~*~*~

**Just For Now**

"Tobias!" I called. Scanning the horizon, I stepped towards the forest's edge and prepared to call again. Sucking in a big breath for maximum volume, I yelled his name again. Bordering on panic, I started forwards, then felt a restraining hand on my shoulder.

"Rachel," I turned towards the voice, my eyes meeting those of my cousin. I could see sympathy there, and in the set of his face. I didn't want his sympathy, however. I spat out my reply, accompanied by a formidable glare.

"What, Jake?" I saw in his face that my tone had had it's desired effect. He looked a bit taken aback. He sighed deeply, and more firmly gripped my arm, pulling me towards him and away from the clearing. I felt pine needles prick my bare feet, and silently cursed the fact that morphing technology made no allowances for footwear.

We, Jake and I, were standing within ten feet of the forest's border, which was half a block from the factory section of town. Twilight was giving way to night, and dull orange lit the sky. It wasn't the effects of the setting sun that produced the glow, however. It was the flaming wreckage of a small Yeerk headquarters that we had just ransacked. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Marco and Cassie had already left. Marco was going out to dinner with his dad and Nora, while Cassie had a report to write on the effects of clear cutting forests. At the moment, Ax was doing a quick aerial scan of the surrounding area. Tobias was…well, there lies the problem, and source of my anxiety. No one knew where he was. It had been half an hour since I had last seen him, actively gouging out the eyes of a Human controller. We had completed the mission, and escaped to our forested hide out.

When the others had departed, Jake and Ax had stayed with me. I was determined to find out where Tobias was. I wouldn't admit to either of them that I was worried, but I'm sure they knew. Now, I'm not a tell-my-emotions-to-everyone kind of person at all, but everyone pretty much knows how I feel about Tobias. Marco, too, unfortunately. He thinks it's hilarious, and makes it the focus of some of his tactless jokes.

"Rachel, I'm sure he's fine," Jake continued. "Tobias might've had to fly around the area to avoid being caught when the rest of us were hauling butt the other way. He,"

My cousin stopped, then fixed his brown gaze on the dim forest to our right.

"Ax?", He queried in a low voice. There was rustle, and then the delicate upper body and bizarre head of an Andalite came into view, followed quickly by the blue furred, deer like body and powerful, deadly tail. Ax smiled with his eyes, then approached us.

Yes, Prince Jake. I almost succeeded in reaching you without being detected. There was trace of humor in the thought speak, which would have been odd, had he been any other Andalite. Ax had picked up a sense of humor, albeit an off beat one, during his stay on Earth. Impatiently, I cute off whatever Jake had opened his mouth to say.

"Did you see Tobias?" Ax shook his head, another mannerism he had acquired from us.

I was not able to visually locate him. I tried thought speak, but he must be out of range. Or dead, I thought grimly. I mentally jerked myself out of that frame of mind. He's just out of range. He's ok. Really, Rachel, really. Something of what I was thinking must have shown on my face, because Jake was giving me an odd, concerned look. He wanted to say something, I could tell, but he was hesitant.

"Rachel? You know I'm worried about him, too. But, I really think we should go home. We're not entirely safe, even though we won. Any Yeerks that stumble upon the mess we made are gonna be pretty pissed. Let's get out of here, okay? Tobias will contact us." He finally said, with a somewhat pleading look on his face. He was concerned, too, I knew. But like he said, we were in possible danger. We probably should go home. I acknowledged this reluctantly, then sighed in resignation.

"All right. Everyone keep a look out on the way, though, just in case he's in the air." Two heads bobbed, agreeing to my suggestion. Jake gave me one last glance, then his look became focused inward, as a feather pattern tattooed it's way across his skin.

I moved back a few feet, giving myself room on each side. I tried to concentrate on the morph, on the owl, on the DNA of the silent, aerial predator of the night. Visions of nocturnal raptors brought memories of a certain red-tailed predator to mind, which temporarily broke my concentration. I was a hideous creature, roughly three feet high, covered in feathers and sporting a half-formed beak. I silently admonished myself, and returned to the morph. Even though my thoughts no longer strayed, the morph took longer than usual.

When I was done, Ax had already left, and Jake was preparing to follow in his path. He looked down at me from the tree branch where he was perched, fixing me with his large, almost luminous eyes.

Call me if you need anything. Be careful what you say, though. Tom. With those brief words he took off, swooping low then up, silently disappearing into the shadows. With a last glance at the clearing a mere ten feet away, I powered myself into the air. I gained altitude, then steered myself towards home, temporarily lost in the comfort of the owl's focused, predatory mind.

~*~*~*~*~

I landed in the secluded place in my backyard where I had left my outfit and shoes. I knew for a fact that this spot was shielded from my house and the neighboring ones, having tested it out before hand. Tobias had helped me do that, seeing if I was visible from different positions around the yard and house. The thought of him and me working together brought back the reality of the fact that I had no idea where he was, or how many pieces he was in.

Stop it, Rachel. I couldn't keep doing this. I had to be positive. Ugh. Being positive is a pain. Going from owl to human went much quicker. I guess it's because I was so eager to get inside, go to my room and then break everything I could. On that happy note, I made my way across the yard, sticking to the shadows, just in case. I knew my mom wasn't home, but Sarah and Jordan definitely were. They could be looking out a window or something. One could never be to careful. That's my life.

Reaching the side door, I made my way inside. I kicked off my shoes in the hallway, not caring that my mother would freak about me having left them there. I hoped to make it upstairs without any sibling confrontations. I just didn't feel like dealing with either of them right then, and I wasn't sure how violently I would react if I was forced to. I made it all the way upstairs, and was actually hopeful that I would be able to peacefully enter my room.

I stepped up my pace, I was so eagerly looking forward to the sanctuary of my room. My eyes were completely focused on the door. I didn't even have a chance to stop when Sarah stepped out of her room, a mere foot in front of me.

"Rachel? Is that –ow!", she cried as I bumped into her, practically knocking her down.

"Sorry." I mumbled, as I kept walking.

"Rachel? Hey! Rachel, you almost knocked me down! Why are you so mean?" I heard the slamming of her door, just as I reached my own. I sighed thankfully and stepped over the threshold. Closing my door, I leaned against it.

"God, Rachel," I spoke out loud, "you are such scum. You practically killed your little sister, and didn't even stop."

Don't say that, you're not scum. I froze, my eyes still on the carpet. I looked up slowly, afraid to see that the red tailed hawk wasn't sitting on my windowsill, that I had, in fact, finally snapped. I finally made myself look. I nearly choked when I saw that he **wasn't** there. My eyes wide, I went to look out the window. I wasn't insane! I had heard Tobias! Before I had covered half the distance, I heard a fluttering. Then saw the brown and russet blur of wings and tail as Tobias swooped in and landed on the sill, talons digging into the soft wood.

This time I didn't freeze. I practically leaped towards him, moving fifteen feet in roughly two giant bounds. I had my arms flung wide and was about to yell my thanks that he was alive when I noticed him fidgeting on the windowsill. I recognized that he was trying to control the morph. All my jumping around was probably scaring the bird in him to death. I stopped dead. The last thing I wanted was for him to seek refuge in the sky because I had waved my arms around.

"I'm sorry," I said, with a sheepish grin. He fixed those intense, golden eyes on me, and I felt the sheepish grin melt into a dopey smile. I did my best to regain control of my features, but I knew he had noticed, and, honestly, I didn't care.

It's ok. I take it you're happy to see me?

"Happy to see you?", I said, my voice raising a bit, "I'm happy you're not dead!"

Oh. Sorry about that. I had to hide for awhile. Those guys were trigger happy, and I didn't want to get vaporized.

"I'm thrilled you didn't. Tobias, will you do me a favor?" I had managed to resume a non-hysterical tone of voice.

Anything for you.

"Morph human?" My voice was tentative, and I was suddenly afraid he would refuse.

No problem. But…clothes?

"I've got them," I went over to my closet, and pulled out the bag of clothes he had worn the last time he had morphed human. I set the bag on the floor. He hopped off the sill and glided to the carpet, then looked up at me. I turned around quickly, hopefully before he could see the slight flush that had appeared on my cheeks. I would let him know that I had worried about him, but he was **not** going to see me blush.

I stood there for a few minutes, listening to the rustling of clothes and plastic bag, before I heard the "Okay" from behind me. I turned, and I could feel that dopey grin back on my face. Yeah, yeah, sappy, I know. It was just seeing the boy standing before me – tall, not quite gangly, unruly mop of hair, sweet, shy, eyes…I just couldn't help it.

He looked at me, and the corner of his mouth turned up in an almost smile. I felt my own smile widen, and then, before I had even consciously thought about it, my arms were wrapped around his neck. I felt him freeze, rigid under my embrace. I silently cursed my stupidity. You **know** Tobias gets startled easily, after having been a hawk for so long. I went to move back, and hastily apologize. I felt his arms go around my back, and all thoughts of retreat left my head. He held me tight, and I returned the favor. I felt his hand run through my hair, tentatively offering comfort.

I pulled back a little, just enough so I could touch my forehead to his, looking directly into his eyes. Holding Tobias' gaze, which was so intense, even in human form, I smiled again.

"You scared me," I whispered, my smile taking the sting from the words, "Don't ever do that again!"

"Okay," he replied softly. Raising a hand, he laid it against the side of my face, then brushed his thumb over my cheek, feather light. He moved his hand down to my chin, tilted my face, then kissed me, light and soft and sweet.

~*~*~*~*~

Half an hour later found us on my bed, shoulder to shoulder, fingers intertwined. We were sitting in a companionable silence, watching TV. I can't tell you which show we watching, because I didn't care. I hardly even noticed the television was on. I was simply enjoying Tobias' company, and the feel of him next to me. I don't think either of us even watched the show, whatever it was. Our eyes only briefly left each other's faces. I knew we only had an hour or so to sit in the wonderful silence, just happy to be together. Gazing into Tobias' eyes, however, it didn't matter. I knew we could be happy, even if it was only just for now.


End file.
